Chapter 9: Identifying the Product/Brand to be Marketed

Question 1

What are the four stages of the product lifecycle? How does this relate to marketing?

Answer 1

1. Introduction
2. Growth
3. Maturity or stabilization
4. Decline

It relates because each stage needs a different marketing strategy.

Question 2

To be successful, a brand must create a positive image in the consumer’s mind. How is this achieved?

Answer 2

• Substance
• Consumer trust
• consumer engagement
• Brand story
• Price premium
• Longevity
• Strong brand name

Question 3

What is meant by a brand story and why is it important?

Answer 3

• A story to which consumers can relate - this creates an emotional attachment between the consumer and the brand.
• Many marketers believe that the story of a product is one of it’s most valuable attributes. Research has shown that many consumers, especially millennials, are attracted to products with strong stories.
• Gives the product a sense of authenticity and links it to a person/place.

Question 4

Compared to some products, telling the story of wine is easy. Give an example.

Answer 4

• Producer’s history? Have they been producing wine for generations? In newer wine-producing regions, did their ancestors come from older wine-producing regions and bring vines with them? Did the producer have an interesting previous career?
• Where are grapes grown? Do they come from a single vineyard, perhaps with an unusual or evocative name? What is the vineyard like - steep, rocky, prone to mist, aspect?
• How is the wine made? Organic or Biodynamic? Does the winemaker use a distinctive process?
• Is there a story behind the name of the wine or label?

Question 5

What makes a strong brand name?

Answer 5

• easy to remember
• if wine is sold in different countries which speak different languages, easy to pronounce in all relevant languages and be free of offensive/obscene translations.
• May be beneficial to have different brand names in different markets.
• Many successful wine brands have names that contain references to geographical features

Question 6

What is one common method of categorizing brand position within a market?

Answer 6

• Value
• Standard
• Premium
• Super-premium

*use of these terms, and the price ranges to which they alloy, can vary considerably even within the same market.

Question 7

When is a brand’s position usually set and why?

Answer 7

Usually set at launch, having been intended to hit a particular price point.

Question 8

What happens if, once a brand’s position is set, competition increases?

Answer 8

A brandy have to lower its position to remain competitive.

That said, the cheapest end of the market should not be ignored as this offers the opportunity for high-volume sales.

Question 9

Why would large wine companies, such as Concha y Toro and Hardy’s, have a variety of brands positioned in different parts of the market?

Answer 9

In a attempt to attract as wide a range of consumers as possible.

Question 10

Describe a ladder brand

Answer 10

Intended to give consumers easy-to-understand “rungs” to help them trade up to a higher-priced and better-quality expression of the brand. The whole range benefits from the identity of the most prestigious expression of the brand.

Question 11

Describe the rungs of a ladder brand

Answer 11

1. ACCESSIBLE: least expensive option with the greatest distribution and the one that consumers will buy most often
2. STRETCH: affordable but only for special occasions.
3. ASPIRATION: the most prestigious expression of the brand. Costs far more than most consumers are willing to pay. Casts its premium identity over the entire ladder.

Question 12

Describe ladder branding for champagne and give an example

Answer 12

Accessible - Pol Roger NV
Stretch - Pol Roger Vintage
Aspiration - Pol Roger Cuvee Winston Churchill

Question 13

Describe ladder branding for “soft brands” and give an example.

Answer 13

Accessible - Bourgogne Rouge
Stretch - Every-Chambertin
Aspiration - Le Chambertin Grand Cru

Question 14

Why do ladder brands tend to work less well with wines bought by low-involvement consumers.

Answer 14

Because while the accessible and stretch rungs may work, few, if any, consumers who buy the accessible wine will be aware that the aspiration wine exists. AS a result, there is no identity given by the aspiration wine to the rest of the ladder.

Question 15

Describe the worst situation for a ladder brand

Answer 15

The entire ladder is based on the accessible wine and consumers could be reluctant to trade up even to the stretch rung as they believe it is overpriced.

Question 16

What is a “soft brand”?

Answer 16

A term sometimes used to describe any cue used by a consumer when choosing to buy one product in preference to another. In the wine industry, this could be a country of origin, region, geographical indicator, or even a style of wine.

Question 17

Why are soft brands an important element of wine marketing?

Answer 17

Many wine-producing countries and regions promote themselves successfully in this way and the
significance of geographical indicators in creating a regional identity of brand is increasingly
acknowledged. Whilst Sauvignon Blanc is produced around the world, only wine from a
small, specifically designated area in the Loire Valley can be labelled Pouilly-Fumé AOC. Most
producers within the appellation are too small to become a well- known brand but they can
benefit from the AOC’s reputation to market their wines.

Question 18

What sets luxury brands apart from other aspects of wine marketing?

Answer 18

Luxury brands promote the idea that they are scarce even if, as in the case of many
Champagnes, this is not always the case. This perceived scarcity is one reason why luxury
brands can usually charge a large premium. The marketing may also promote other assets
of the product such as the quality of the fruit or of the vineyard in which it was harvested, no
expenses spared during winemaking, a rich heritage, etc. Every aspect of marketing strategy
for the product is likely to promote the idea of luxury; for example, sponsorship of exclusive
and luxury events, and positioning in the most upmarket retailers and on the wine lists of fine
dining restaurants.